Orphan Children Need Our Love

As you may know, “Orphan Sunday” is an annual emphasis in churches around the world, highlighting the plight of literally millions of children who are living without the blessing of having parents to care for them.  Whether orphaned through death, taken away by the court systems, or abandoned in institutions due to their biological parents’ inability (or unwillingness) to provide for their children – they all share one thing in common: they need love.

Your partnership allows us to love mothers in crisis pregnancies – and children with disabilities.  It’s how we do our best to follow the admonition in James 1:27:  “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”

Emotional and Spiritual Encouragement:

Dr. Bashek: Parents often experience pressure from doctors, relatives, and even grandparents to leave their children with special needs at an orphanage. They constantly hear “You will waste your life if you keep this one.  Leave this child; he is hopeless. You will only burden yourself.”  Sadly, this pressure does not subside as time goes by.  Our heroic mothers come to me in tears for encouragement and support, seeking strength to resist the surrounding voices telling them to abandon their precious little children.  

“When my husband learned we had a girl with spina bifida, he didn’t come to pick me up from the hospital. Neither he nor my in-laws have wanted to have anything to do with my daughter or me ever since.  I am raising my girl alone,” shared Svitlana, Mariyka’s mother.

Material and Financial Assistance:

Olga Chebanova: After Nikolay’s wife passed away he had three children to raise on his own, two of them with severe cerebral palsy.  His boys, Dema and Andrey, are unable to care for themselves.  His baby, Marian, was a preschooler.  Social services, relatives, neighbors tried to persuade him to place his boys with disabilities in an orphanage. He objected: “As long as I live, my children will be with me.”   It’s been a blessing to walk alongside Nikolay and his boys, helping them to figure out cooking, cleaning and doing laundry. He continues to receive a variety of services through Mission to Ukraine. But it’s not just the material goods we provide such as medicines, diapers, food, and counseling – it’s the spiritual and emotional support that he relies on most.

Stopping the cycle:

Natasha Krasovska: This past year we provided multifaceted care for several orphaned girls with unplanned pregnancies. It’s great to be in partnership with local churches who welcome such girls into their community and become a family for them.

Twenty two year old Vita is 28 weeks pregnant. “Even though my boyfriend left me, I have no fear of the future. God will take care of me,” she shared at one of the counseling sessions.
 

Serving Boys with Disabilities at the Romaniv Orphanage

Oksana Shulyak: “Our staff at Mission to Ukraine, alongside many volunteers from Zhytomyr and around the world, serve dozens of boys with very significant disabilities at the Romaniv Orphanage.  Thanks in large part to the support of our friends at Hands of Hope in Indiana https://handsofhopein.org/index.php, we are able to provide weekly supplies of food, support and coach two teachers who work with the boys on a daily basis, assist in equipping workshops for the boys’ development, and organize camps and social integration projects. Though a lot of improvement has already taken place, the need is still great. We’re excited to keep this good work going!”

Thank you friends for your love in action. Please continue to love, pray, and give. In everything we do, may our Lord’s Name be glorified.

Please visit our website at www.missiontoukraine to make a donation today.  Your gift truly makes a difference !!!